"Natsimbio" will lose the status of a monopolist

"Daughter" of "Rostecha" - the company "Natsimbio" - may lose the status of the only supplier of blood products, because it did not fulfill its obligations to build a plant in Kirov. In this case, finish it in "Microgen"

The Ministry of Industry and Trade may deprive the National Immunobiological Company ("Nazimbio", the "daughter" of Rostek) of the status of the only supplier of medicines derived from human and animal blood plasma, a source close to the agency told RBC, and the interlocutor familiar with the details of the discussion.

"The government instructed to work out and submit scenarios of possible implementation of the project, some of them do suppose that there is no need to use the mechanism of a single supplier," one of the interlocutors of RBC states.

The company "Natsimbio", established in 2013 by Rostekh, was appointed in 2017 as the only supplier of blood products (necessary for treatment and prevention of bleeding in patients with bleeding disorders and hemophilia) for state needs. In March 2018, the government extended this status to her in 2018-2019. The company supplies blood products - in particular, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Education, the Federal Security Service, the Federal Service for the Execution of Penalties,

RBC sent inquiries to Rostekh, Natsimbio and Minpromtorg.

The final decision on the status of "Natsimbio", according to another source of RBC, close to the company, will be made in the next two months.

Blood asset

One of the conditions for getting "Natsimbio" supplier status was the construction of the plant "Kirov Plazma" in Kirov. The company was supposed to complete the project by the end of 2018, but eventually postponed the start-up period of the plant at the end of 2019.

During the construction of the plant, the management structure changed - first it was at Rosteha, then it was transferred to Natsimbio, says one of the interlocutors of RBC. "During this time, the tasks of" Natsimbio "were more clearly specified and other changes, including structural ones, took place: for instance, the" Microgen "merged with the state corporation (Rostek received Microgen from the Ministry of Health in 2015)," the interlocutor of RBC explains. As a result, "it became clear that there is quite understandable synergy between Microgen and the Kirov Plazma plant for the optimal completion of this project," he adds. The

In 2017, to complete the construction of the plant, Natsimbio attracted the partners Kedrion Biopharma, which is to transfer technology to the Rostekh's daughter company for the production of blood products, and co-investor - Pharmstandard (one of the main suppliers of foreign blood products). The parties signed an agreement on cooperation in March last year. At the same time, the shareholder of Pharmstandard Viktor Kharitonin invested in the market of blood products and another joint venture: his own Generium in 2016 created a joint venture with the Irish corporation Shire - SG Biotech.

In the event that "Natsimbio" loses its status as the sole supplier, the plant will complete the "Microgen", and the possibility of granting state support is not ruled out. "Each of the scenarios [for the status of" Natsimbio "and the development of vaccine supplies] are matched by their financing mechanisms, including the possibility of using targeted state support," the source of RBC, who is familiar with the details of the discussion, confirms.

RBC asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the staff of Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, who oversees the medical and pharmaceutical industry, to clarify the amount involved.

According to the results of 2016, according to SPARK, the proceeds of "Microgen" amounted to 7.5 billion rubles. (profit - 643.5 million rubles.), in 2017 - 695.6 million rubles. (loss - 173.7 million rubles.). The company reported net profit of more than 498 million rubles.

At the same time, in the first months of 2018, as the status of the supplier was extended to Natsimbio only in March, the Ministry of Health made several purchases of blood products at auctions. By March 19, the results of nine of them for a total of 2.7 billion rubles were summed up, Vademecum wrote. They applied for one applicant - the company "Farmimeks", which should supply.

Loss of status and control

If the "Natsimbio" is taken "Kirov Plasm" and the status of the only supplier of blood products, according to SPARK, it will have a 32% stake in the Synthesis plant in Kurgan and a 25% share in the FORT plant. In addition, the company will retain the status of the only vaccine supplier (until the end of 2019) and the only provider for the Federal Service of the Penal System (until the end of 2018).

Since 2015, the company exclusively delivers Russian vaccines for the national calendar of preventive vaccinations. As part of this project, the state vaccinates the population against socially significant diseases, such as measles, tetanus, rubella, influenza, and the like. The renewal of the status of the sole supplier for these drugs for 2018-2019 occurred even later than for blood products - April 23, 2018. In 2017, "Nazimbio" criticized the bill of the Ministry of Health for the routine control of vaccines.

Now, "Natsimbio" is the object of a deal between "Rostekh" and the investment company "Marathon Group". Already in August 2017, the parties agreed on the merger of their pharmacies: Marathon Group receives 25% plus one share of Natsimbio (a controlling stake of 75% remains with Rostekh), and Rostek through Natsimbio - up to 49% stake in "SIA Group". In the perimeter of the deal, shares belonging to the parties and shares in the plants Sintez, FORT, Kirov Plazma, companies FarmAid Ltd. and NIK Logistics were also to enter the perimeter of the deal. Later, the transaction excluded "SIA Group" - it is planned to sell the retail network "Magnet".

One of the terms of the transaction between the investment group and Rostekh: "Marathon Group" gets an option to acquire up to 100% of shares of "Natsimbio", if it loses the status of the sole supplier of drugs for state needs. At the same time, according to RBC, a source familiar with the details of the negotiation process between the state corporation and the investment group, if Natsimbio is deprived of the status of the sole supplier of blood products, but it still has other government contracts, the option rights of Marathon Group do not arise.